US pre-open: Stocks seen higher as investors eye Powell speech
US stocks looked set to rise at the open on Wednesday amid hopes that China and the US will reach a truce on trade at this week's G20 meeting, as investors eyed a speech by Fed chairman Jerome Powell.
At 1230 GMT, Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq futures were up 0.5%, while S&P 500 futures were 0.4% firmer.
Sentiment was expected to be underpinned by comments from White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow, who said on Tuesday that US officials were having "a lot of communication" with the Chinese government at all levels ahead of the G20 meeting in Argentina this week. Kudlow said US President Trump had told advisers that "in his view, there is a good possibility that a deal can be made and that he is open to that".
However, China would need to do more for an agreement to be reached, with certain conditions needing to be met, Kudlow said.
Analyst Michael Hewson at CMC Markets said: "This would suggest that for all the optimism and Trump’s comments earlier this week that the best we can hope for is that any additional tariffs are delayed, and the current ones are left at their current levels.
"Nonetheless equity markets have chosen to focus on the positive with Asia markets also pushing higher ahead of the key meeting on Saturday with Presidents Trump and Xi."
In corporate new, Tiffany's slumped nearly 12% in pre-market trade after the luxury jeweller's third-quarter sales missed analysts' expectations.
Consumer foods group J.M. Smucker was also under the cosh after its quarterly profit and sales missed forecasts and the company cut its full-year outlook.
Going the other way, Burlington Stores surged 7% as its third-quarter earnings and revenue topped analysts' forecasts, while Salesforce.com rallied after posting better-than-expected third-quarter results late on Tuesday.
Market participants will be watching out for Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell's speech at the Economic Club of New York at 1800 GMT. "Given signs of a global slowdown and extreme market volatility over the past few months, investors will be keen for a sense of the Fed’s hiking plans for next year," said London Capital Group analyst Jasper Lawler.
On the data front, third-quarter GDP is at 1330 GMT, while new homes sales are at 1400 GMT and the Richmond Fed manufacturing index is at 1500 GMT.